The present invention generally relates to a heat treating process and more particularly, to a heat treating furnace for heat-treating a metallic strip and the like therein.
Conventionally, in heat treating furnaces for a metallic strip, etc., heat treatment is effected by heating and soaking the metallic strip at a predetermined temperature and cooling the metallic strip thereafter. Heat discharged from the metallic strip during the cooling thereof is undesirably dissipated into the atmosphere without being utilized, thus resulting in a loss of energy to a large extent.